It is common knowledge in Nigeria as a nation that every individual seeking a first degree (undergraduate students) at the end (last year) of their stay at the tertiary institution of learning, in fact, must undergo one of the mandatory requirements “dreaded part and strenuous from schooling (some students hire a writer to carry out their research (s) for them, known to the educational population as a project or end-of-year project.
Many things come together to form the criteria for distinguishing who was successful in their time at school and in other respects. Continuous evaluation, test, group work (s) and sometimes personal research and then the mother of all, exams. All of these are pretty much the yardstick for weighing the “bright” students from the “boring” ones.
Where do senior projects come in and why? We will take a closer look at it below.
Tertiary institutions are structured to be the last training point for professionals (undergraduate students) who will eventually fill the gaps, if any, and who make up the labor industry. No one can be a lawyer, a doctor, a sociologist, an engineer, an architect without adequate training at the University.
Said and done, let’s take a quick look at one of the most vital and important parts of this aforementioned training.
THEMES OF THE FINAL YEAR PROJECT.
What does a final year project or research topic entail?
The definition of the word project provided by the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary will not serve our purpose for this article.
The final year project is the culmination of the degree: it gives students the opportunity to demonstrate all that they have learned. The project module is very different from other modules. The project assesses the ability of students to: design, design and evaluate quality systems, investigate the chosen subject area.
The research from this senior project works, just like any other part of schooling that has some associated difficulties in its place.
One of which is the nature of the senior project themes.
The difficulties associated with this are not far-fetched since, although all the project topics are important, we cannot deny the fact that there is some very difficult phenomenon that will serve as a bone in one’s research.
For example, if the topic of one’s senior project has a lot to do with the threats of cultism and its effects on the student population in Nigerian tertiary institutions, we cannot argue with the obvious fact that it is a very important topic, but the process and research maybe they will. be a herculean. How to approach this issue may not be the problem, but getting first-hand information will be a serious problem.
Another difficulty students face is accessibility to important (undergraduate) research materials. It is a bitter truth to say that some tertiary institutions in Nigeria have poor old books and libraries. When students cannot access up-to-date books, by extension they will find it difficult to obtain adequate information, vital to the completion of their final year project.
Another difficulty students face is the nature of some of their project supervisors.
Supervisors are meant to supervise, support, advise, and assist students in the course of their investigation, but some of these supervisors just frustrate students’ work. Some students fervently pray to escape some tutors as supervisors when they finally reach the promised land.
The strict nature of a lecturer, coupled with his great taste for the critical nature, can scare students over the course of their project. I have seen situations where supervisors cancel the first presentations made by their students for very trivial reasons that could be easily corrected.
Another difficulty that students face is the approval of the final year project topics.
This should normally go into effect as soon as possible so that students can have enough time to research, conduct interviews, and take questionnaires so they can catch the worm early, but sometimes for no concrete reasons approval is delayed too long and when it is finally done approves, students may not have enough time to execute the projects judicially.
Another difficulty students face to be honest is procrastination on the part of students.
Time management is one of the most imperative factors that students should properly consider in school, but some of the students procrastinate and when it is almost time for presentations, they rush, rush, and rush through their work. . No, it won’t work well that way. It will not.
In a situation where the end-of-year project requires oral communication, interacting with people who may not be educated or who cannot read and write can be a bit of a problem. I know of a lady whose senior research project was to be run in a remote village and she was to conduct an interview with a faction of the villagers. Communicating with women was a serious problem for her.
Like any other phenomenon in life in general, difficulties are sure to come our way. Even roses have thorns.
It’s just a matter of hard work and dedication that can ease the stress that comes with projects. By knowing the challenges and the very importance of projects in shaping students and preparing them for what to expect in the world at large and to be specific to their field of professionalism, higher education institutions may want to come back to the table of drawing and conjuring up ways to relieve stress students face during projects and also finding ways to bring out the best in students in the course of this important exercise.
Nobody likes low grades and the heavy credit load that comes with a senior project alone scares students into doing pretty much everything in their power to make sure they pass and pass very well.
Nigerian students are hardly clouded by difficult situations, they always find a way to make things happen.
Hard times don’t last, but people do, and this in no way justifies the negligence of both students and teachers in this situation.
When we all do what we have to do, we can make what we have always dreamed of come true.
